www.geekybob.com

Just a short, simple blog for Bob to share his thoughts.

Credential Caching in FTP 7.0 and FTP 7.5

08 April 2011 • by Bob • FTP, IIS

I've seen a few situations where people that are using the FTP 7.0 and FTP 7.5 service have noticed that it takes a while for their password changes to be reflected by the FTP service. To put this another way, here are the typical symptoms that people describe to me:

Here's why this happens: to help improve the performance for authentication requests, the FTP service caches the credentials for successful logins. (The cache duration is set to 15 minutes by default.) This means that if you change your password, your changes may not be reflected for the cache duration.

The good news is, the FTP credential cache settings can be changed easily, and I have documented all of the settings for FTP caching in the IIS configuration reference at the following URLs:

Quoting and paraphrasing the above documentation, there are the two settings that you can configure on the <credentialsCache> element:

AttributeDescription
enabled Optional Boolean attribute.

true if credential caching is enabled; otherwise, false.

The default value is true.
flushInterval Optional uint attribute.

Specifies the cache lifetime, in seconds, for credentials that are stored in the cache.

Note: This value must be between 5 and 604,800 seconds.

The default value is 900.

What this means to you is - you can completely disable credential caching, or you can specify a different timeout. For example, on several of my development servers I often disable credential caching; this allows me to change passwords whenever I want, which is very useful when I am creating custom authentication providers. For my production servers I tend to stick with the default values, although I might change those values when I'm troubleshooting a problem.

I usually configure the settings from a command line or a batch file, although the articles that I listed earlier have steps for using the IIS Manager to change the settings for FTP credential caching. Just the same, here are some examples for setting the values by using appcmd.exe:

How to Disable FTP Credential Caching

cd /d "%SystemRoot%\System32\Inetsrv"
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.ftpServer/caching /credentialsCache.enabled:"False" /commit:apphost
net stop FTPSVC
net start FTPSVC

How to Specify a Custom Timeout for FTP Credential Caching

cd /d "%SystemRoot%\System32\Inetsrv"
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.ftpServer/caching /credentialsCache.enabled:"True" /commit:apphost
appcmd.exe set config -section:system.ftpServer/caching /credentialsCache.flushInterval:"300" /commit:apphost
net stop FTPSVC
net start FTPSVC

I hope this helps. ;-]

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/

Why I Won't Buy Another HP Computer

23 March 2011 • by Bob • Hardware, Windows, Support

First of all, I have to point out that I have a few friends that work for Hewlett-Packard, so I have to apologize up front for what I'm about to write in this blog. But I just had such a horrible customer support experience with HP that I won't buy from them again.

Why I Bought an HP Computer

I have nothing against HP computers; for several years I used two beefy dual-CPU HP/Compaq ProLiant servers for my web hosting machines. (I loved those computers, and I only replaced those when Windows Server 2008 was released and I thought that it was time to upgrade my servers.)

Recently I decided to replace my aging Dell desktop computer with a newer model. I'm quite partial to Dell computers, because I've always had great experiences with their computers and their company. I had a chance to buy a refurbished HP P6510F computer for a great price, so I decided to take a chance with HP since that particular computer model had a lot of great reviews.

When the computer arrived I did what I always do - I reformatted the hard drive and I installed a brand new copy of Windows from scratch. (I have to do this because all computer companies - HP, Dell, Gateway, etc. - install a bunch of useless garbage software whenever you buy one of their new computers.) The computer ran fine for several weeks, but I'm a person that likes to keep their computer up-to-date, so this past weekend I browsed to HP's website to see if there were any updates.

Upgrading the BIOS

As it turns out, there was a new version of their BIOS that was supposed to resolve issues when waking the computer from sleep mode if you have more than 4GB of memory. I only had 4GB of RAM in the computer, but I was already shopping for another 4GB, so it seemed prudent to install the BIOS update. I downloaded the update and ran their installer. After a couple of minutes a dialog box popped up saying that the update had applied successfully and I needed to reboot my computer, which I did.

That's when everything started to go wrong.

All Heck Breaks Loose

When my computer restarted it immediately hit the infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD); something very much like the following illustration:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to
prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen,
restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow
these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed
hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive
to make sure it is properly configured and terminated.
Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then
restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xFFFFF880009A9928,0xFFFFFFFFC0000034,
0x0000000000000000,0x0000000000000000)

It didn't matter how many times I tried to reboot, I still got the BSOD. I knew that BIOS updates changed some of the settings, so my natural suspicion was to assume that something in the new BIOS settings was causing the problem. I tweaked a few settings like disabling hardware virtualization and such - but there was still no joy in Mudville. After this I started to assume that perhaps the BIOS updated hadn't actually applied successfully, so I started trying to see if I could get my computer to boot from one of my several WinPE-based utility CD-ROMs and reapply the patch, but all of those also fell victim to the vicious BSOD.

I'll spare you the details of everything else that I tried - both hardware and software - but I finally gave up and decided to call HP's 24x7 technical support number.

The Technical Support Nightmare Begins

For geeks like me, having to call technical support is humiliating enough, but it's made so much worse by having to deal with front-line technical support people. Having spent 10 years in technical support myself, I have a great deal of patience with technical support engineers, but it can still be an aggravating experience. I spent the next half-hour answering mundane questions and following every instruction from HP's Tier 1 technical support script - all of which I had tried before. (At least the parts that actually applied to my situation.) I'm sure that the engineer with whom I was working meant well, but it was clear that she was floundering.

After a while she began to tell me that I didn't need the BIOS patch and that this was all my fault, to which I replied that she was correct - I didn't actually need the BIOS patch right now, but I would need it in the future, but that didn't really matter - the BIOS patch should not cause the BSOD. Besides - I always updated the BIOS in my Dell computers with no problems. (There's a good jab at HP to try yourself sometime.) Then she started to tell me that since I had a different version of Windows than HP had installed on my computer, the BIOS patch was not compatible. I asked her incredulously, "Do you mean to tell me that HP expects their customers to never install a new version of Windows?" She hesitated before replying "No," and then I reiterated my earlier assertion that no matter what, the BIOS patch should not cause the BSOD.

Then she began to tell me that I needed to purchase a system restore DVD from HP to rebuild my system. I was quick to point out that doing so would reformat my hard drive - thereby erasing all of my files - and that I was willing to bet that the problem wouldn't go away since the system restore DVD was probably not going to reset the BIOS back to an earlier version. So in my estimation I would be wasting my money and my time on a suggestion that would ultimately achieve nothing. This is where I lost her - she had no idea what I meant; so after more than an hour of basic troubleshooting with Tier 1 support and lots of time spent on hold, my patience was finally gone, and I asked to speak with someone in HP's Tier 2 support.

The Technical Support Nightmare Continues

I was transferred to a guy in Tier 2 support who discussed my predicament with me, and he seemed to have a much better handle on things. One of the first things that he did was verify that there was no reason that the BIOS update shouldn't work with my version of Windows, to which I replied that I had been trying to tell the earlier engineer the same thing. We looked at several settings, but the problem persisted, and then he suggested that I needed to purchase a system restore DVD from HP to rebuild my system. I restated my earlier claim that I would be wasting my money and my time since I was 99.9% sure that the system restore DVD would not roll back the BIOS version, so he put me on hold while he checked on that.

When he came back he informed me that the system restore DVD would not roll back the BIOS version, so I needed to return the computer to HP in order for them to reset the computer's BIOS to the original factory version. He pointed out that this would be free since the computer was under warranty, and he took my address so HP could send me a box in order to send the computer back to HP for repairs. Once all that was taken care of, we hung up.

My total time on the phone was about two hours. Ugh.

Problem Resolved

The next day I went out to lunch with my good friend, Wade Hilmo, and I related my experience to him. Once I described the symptoms he said, "I'll bet the BIOS update changed the mode for your SATA controller. Switch it from IDE to AHCI or vice-versa and the problem should go away."

Darn. I should have thought of that. ;-]

Sure enough, when I got home that night and I pulled up my BIOS settings, the SATA mode was set to RAID; I switched it to IDE and the BSOD went away. Once I knew what the problem was I found the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article that allowed me to enable AHCI:

Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

My thanks to Wade for pointing that out, but Wade's follow-up comment was apropos, "I'm still a bit surprised that neither of the HP folks suggested it." So I decided that I should call HP and let them know what it took to fix the problem.

Back to Technical Support

The next day I called HP Customer Care to have them cancel my open work ticket, which was the polite thing to do since the problem was resolved. Having taken care of that, I thought that I'd give their technical support people the details of what caused the issue and how to fix it. Having worked in technical support, I always liked to know what it took to resolve an issue.

This seemed like such a good idea at the time, but it didn't turn out that way. When I called HP's Customer Care folks transferred the call to their technical support people, one of their idiots support engineers put me on hold for 20-30 minutes while he read the case notes.

Are you kidding me? It doesn't take 20-30 minutes to read the case notes, even if you're in your first year of Hooked on Phonics.

Once he took me off hold, I was pleading with him to listen to my explanation that the problem was already resolved and it was not caused by whatever stupid idea kept popping out of his wild imagination - I just wanted to share the details of how to resolve the issue if another customer calls in with the same problem, which is undoubtedly going to happen. I pointed out that I was trying to help HIM, for Pete's sake, and he just wouldn't listen. (I started hoping that HP was recording the call.)

After all that, I made it abundantly pretty clear that what he did was very unprofessional, and I asked to speak to a manager. He informed me that he'd see if a manager was available - then he put me back on hold. Fortunately I was calling from work where I have a headset for my telephone, this way I could keep working while I was on hold. (Otherwise this would have really aggravated me.)

After another 20-30 minutes I realized that this idiot engineer was not going to find a manager, he was waiting for me to hang up and go away. So I decided to put that call on hold and try to call back into technical support, but my @#$% LG-Nortel phone won't let me call a phone number if I already have that number on hold. Argh. While I was browsing HP's website to see if I could locate a different phone number for technical support I accidently hung up the original call.

Crap, crap, crap.

So I called HP again and I got another engineer - and I asked to speak to a manager right off the bat. I profusely apologized to the new engineer, and I stated emphatically that it was nothing that he did. He asked for my name and such, but I told him that I had a support ticket number and I gave him that instead. Then I started to explain what happened with the other idiot and how I resolved the issue, but this new engineer attempted to defend the earlier idiot engineer and started to change the subject. I politely cut him off and simply pointed out that the first guy took 30 minutes to read the case notes, whereas he took less than 30 seconds - even this guy had to admit that the first guy's behavior was uncalled for.

Cutting the rest of the story short, I did finally tell the new engineer what it took to fix the problem, which was simply resetting the SATA configuration back to the pre-update BIOS value. I also gave him the information about how to enable AHCI using Microsoft's KB 922976. He thanked me for the information, and after he tried unsuccessfully to upsell me on a new warranty for my computer we ended the call.

Closing Remarks

So there you have it - a thoroughly bad HP customer support experience. If either Hewlett or Packard somehow manage to read this blog, they should be ashamed on behalf of their employees. I'd give you the names of those employees, but no one that I talked to had a name that I could pronounce.

 

Of course, I never did get to speak to a manager at HP.

IIS 6: Setting up SSL - Part 3: Installing the Certificate

17 February 2011 • by Bob • IIS, SSL

In part three of my series on setting up SSL on IIS 6, I'll describe the steps that are necessary to install an SSL certificate. Simply out of convenience I broke this process into two sections:

Installing Your Certificate

  1. Bring up the properties for a website:

  2. Switch to the "Directory Security" tab and click "Server Certificate:"

  3. Click "Next" to bypass the first page:

  4. Choose to process the request and click "Next":

  5. Click "Browse" to the locate your certificate request:

  6. Browse to the location of your certificate, highlight it, and click "Open":

  7. Verify the location of your certificate and click "Next":

  8. Choose your SSL port and click "Next":

  9. Review the information to make sure it is correct and click "Next":

  10. Click "Finish" to close the wizard:

  11. Notice that you now have all the buttons available for SSL.

Verifying Your Certificate

  1. Click the "View Certificate" button:

  2. On the "General" tab, if the certificate is good you will see a normal certificate icon. (If no, you will see a warning or error icon.)

  3. On the "Certification Path" tab you will see your certificate hierarchy:

That wraps it up for creating, submitting, obtaining, and installing a certificate. In subsequent blogs I'll post some appendices with instructions about setting up Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003.

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/

IIS 6: Setting up SSL - Part 2: Submitting a Certificate Request and Obtaining a Certificate

16 February 2011 • by Bob • IIS, SSL

In part two of my series on setting up SSL on IIS 6, I'll describe the steps that are necessary to obtain an SSL certificate. Typically you would submit your certificate request to any one of several Certificate Authorities (CA); and there are several that are available. Here are just a few:

The steps to obtain a certificate differ for each CA, and it would be way outside the scope of my limited blogspace to include the steps for every CA on the Internet. So for my blog series I'm going to show how to use Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003 to obtain a certificate. This part of the process is broken into three steps:

Submit the Certificate Request

  1. Browse to the "Certificate Services" website, and then click the link to "Request a Certificate":

  2. Click the link to submit an "advanced certificate request":

  3. Click the link to "Submit a certificate request by using a base-64 encoded file":

  4. Copy the text from your certificate request file and paste it into the "Base-64 Encoded Certificate Request" text box, then click "Submit":

  5. By default, Certificate Services will return a message stating that your certificate is pending. You will need to notify your Certificate Services administrator that your certificate needs to be approved.

Note: As an alternative to copying the text from your certificate request file, when you are using Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003, you can use the application to read the file for you. To do so, you would need to change the step where you copy and paste the text to the following steps:

  1. Click the link to "Browse for a file to insert":

  2. You may be prompted whether to allow an ActiveX control to run; this warning may appear because the web application uses an ActiveX control to read the certificate request file. In order to continue, you need to click "Yes":

  3. When the subform appears, click the Browse button:

  4. Locate your certificate request file, and then click "Open":

  5. Click the "Read" button to load the text from your certificate request file, this will insert it into the form:

  6. Once the text from your certificate request file has been inserted, you can submit the form as you would have done if you had copied and pasted the text manually.

Certificate Processing

At this point the Certificate Authority (CA) will consider your request. I'll post a blog later with details about processing a request using Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003.

Obtain the Certificate

When your certificate request has been processed, you need to use the following steps to save your certificate to your system before you can process it.

  1. Browse to the "Certificate Services" website, and then click the link to "View the status of a pending certificate request":

  2. Click the link for your approved request.

  3. Click the link to "Download CA certificate":

  4. When prompted, click "Save":

  5. Save the file to somewhere convenient, like your desktop:

In the next post of this blog series, I'll show you how to install your certificate on IIS 6.

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/

IIS 6: Setting up SSL - Part 1: Making a Request

14 February 2011 • by Bob • IIS, SSL

In part one of my series on setting up SSL on IIS 6, I'll describe all of the steps that are necessary to request an SSL certificate for a website. Once you have completed your certificate request, you would send that to a Certificate Authority (CA) for approval. In subsequent blog posts I'll discuss submitting a certificate to a CA - specifically Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003 - and then I'll discuss obtaining a certificate and installing it on your IIS server. But for now, let's get started with a creating certificate request. To do so, use the following steps.

  1. Bring up the properties for a website:

  2. Switch to the "Directory Security" tab and click "Server Certificate:"

  3. Click "Next" to bypass the first page:

  4. Choose to "Create a new certificate" and click "Next":

  5. Choose to "Prepare the request now, but send later" and click "Next":

  6. Enter a friendly "Name" for the request, and your desired "Bit length". Click "Next":

  7. Enter your "Organization" and "Organization unit", then click "Next":

  8. Enter the "Common name" for your site then click "Next":

    Note: This must be the actual web address that users will browse to when they hit your site.

  9. Enter your "Country", "State", and "City", then click "Next":

  10. Enter the "File name" for your request, then click Next:

  11. Review the information for your request, then click Next:

  12. Click "Finish" to exit the wizard.

FYI: If you were to open your request file in Notepad, it will look something like the following:

In the next post of my blog series, I'll show you how to use Certificate Services on Windows Server 2003 to obtain a certificate.

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/

More 511th Jokes and Humor

05 February 2011 • by Bob • Military

This 11th entry from the annals of 511th MI Company history is a continuation of the jokes that I introduced in my last post. As a quick reminder, these entries were all collected from the voluminous number of utterly useless messages that we sent back and forth between the EW platoons over the ASAS datalink system in the TRQ-32s.

The Official EW2 List of Things "Not to Do with Coffee"

  1. Don't make oatmeal with coffee
  2. Don't drink mess hall coffee after eating red lifesavers
  3. Don't drink mess hall coffee, period
  4. Don't let Paski near a full cup of coffee while on pos, unless you want to wear it
  5. Don't pour coffee on your Lt.
  6. Don't share coffee with your T&A team, unless you plan to resupply them forever
  7. Don't let Alex, Fred, or J.J. near a full pot of coffee and an ASAS Datalink
  8. Don't wash your field socks in coffee
  9. Don't use coffee as brake, hydraulic, or windshield wiper fluid (However, you can use it for rust removal)
  10. Don't yodel with your mouth full of coffee
  11. Don't puke, piss, or pop pimples in a pot of coffee
  12. Don't deploy to the field without lots of it

(J.J. Simmons and Bob McMurray, "Caravan Guard" 1989)

A Story

[Note: As if we hadn't picked on 1LT Stahl enough, I wrote the following story about him. (Of course, D.A.T. means "Dumb Ass Tanker".)]

Once upon a time, all was well in E.W. land. The birds were singing and the jammers were jamming. Happiness just seemed to flow from everything about the EWites. Their lives were simple yet full of good cheer. They truly loved the work that they did and fancied to themselves that maybe it was important for some reason.

But then one day, "IT" came to town. The dreaded D.A.T.-Beast that they had all heard rumors of. There was no way to stop it. No way to prepare. No time to run or hide. It fell upon the helpless EWites and viscously attacked them. It tore at their very hearts as if it derived joy from seeing others suffer. It held no concept of the work that they tried so hard to do. It scarred their precious COMSEC habits. It had no life of its own, and thus it began to feed on the lives of others like some inhuman vampire of man's very essence.

It possessed no concept of right or wrong. It sought only self-importance and personal gain - the incredible irony to the role in which it chose to masquerade itself; an Army officer. By design the title should reflect an attitude of responsibility, accompanied by a genuine sense of caring for the well-being of its subordinates. But the Beast held not one endearing trait as a leader of men. A thoughtless, soulless specter shaped like a man. An empty, hollow shell that somehow tried to crush the will of others to bring itself some sadistic form of pleasure.

In its arrogance and pride, it has the audacity to raise its head in a flare of self-righteous temper and cry, "How dare you question my judgment?" when its imperfections are exposed. But therein lies its tragic flaw; for no puffed up ego that rests upon one's shoulders can lay low enough to duck through every door. Sooner or later it comes crashing to the ground at the wrong time yet in the right place, and if all luck prevails the Beast will die in some strange way. The hope remains that this mass of flesh that torments man will indeed fall prey to the traps that it laid for others, and some as yet unseen force will attack and purge this cancerous ego infection from the Beast, leaving enough to mold into a shape more closely resembling a man.

(Bob "Fred" McMurray, "Bold Lancer" 1989)

The World: Man's Future Foretold...

Life as we know it, has ended.
The nations of the world have all been devastated by a massive nuclear war.
Civilization is no more.
The peoples of the world are massing together in an effort to reclaim their lives.
The leader of the masses has been designated Emperor of the World.
The Emperor has maintained order in America the ten years since WWIII.
Very few oppose the emperor; those who do wish for a quick death.
Damnation of the rebels is personally levied by the hand of the emperor:
J.J. Slayer.
Are you damned in this Hell???????

(J.J. Simmons, Caravan Guard, 1989)

Bad DF-Ville (Sung to the tune of Margaritaville)

Wasting away again in Bad DF-Ville,
Searching for my lost OPFOR freq.
Some people say that there's an LT to blame,
But I know, that it's all TCAE's fault.

DF's and fixes, we all know what we're missin'.
We don't have a clue where the enemy stays.
"Gimme a grid square...I don't care where,"
That's all we hear from the TCAE goons.
But it don't matter, ignore the radio chatter.
Don't even bother, you'll be jumping real soon.

Wasting away again in Bad DF-Ville,
Searching for my lost OPFOR freq.
Some people say that the Blue LT is to blame,
But I know, that it's all TCAE's fault.

(Bill  McCollum, Hohenfels 1990)

That wraps it up for this post, but I have a few more jokes in my files to post in the future.

511th Jokes and Humor

03 February 2011 • by Bob • Military

This post marks the 10th installment in my series on the 511th MI Company. So far I have posted all of the lists that I had collected, and I've included some stories along the way. Today's post is a little different - I also collected a bunch of jokes that the ESM squads from the two EW platoons sent back and forth over the TRQ-32's ASAS system. I thought that it might be amusing to let everyone see what we thought was funny at the time. ;-]

In the text file that I had used to collect these jokes I had added the following dedication:

These works best represent the attitudes and feelings shared by most who have sat rack upon the "Pos of Sorrow" at one time or another. They are not always intended to offend, though they sometimes do, but rather to show a rare moment of humor in what might otherwise be a dull and boring life.

To all who wear the Blackhorse, I say with the utmost of heartfelt sincerity and emotion, "Get out of the Army while you still can!"

For each of the jokes that were sent, I managed to write down who sent them and what field problem we were deployed on when I collected them.

Selected Titles from the J. Irwin Rumplemeyer Memorial Book Club

There are many titles to chose from when you join the J. Irwin Rumplemeyer Memorial Book Club. Famous authors, quality works.

(By Dave Paski, "Bold Lancer" 1989)

Note: I believe that Paski's "Biography of an XO" book was in reference to 1LT Stahl, who was thrust on the 511th for several months as Company XO until our CO managed to find a way to push him off on some other unsuspecting Company.

The 10 Top Heavy Metal Albums of All Time

  1. Burl Ives - "Chainsaw Lust"
  2. Slim Whitman - "Satan and a Six Pack"
  3. Roger Whitaker - "Dance, Bitch, Dance"
  4. Boxcar Willy - "Hobo Hell"
  5. Mormon Tabernacle Choir - "Sacrifice Two out of Three Wives"
  6. Boston Pops - "Belial's Orchestra"
  7. Mitch Miller - "Backwards Singalongs"
  8. Roy Clark - "Even **** Rot"
  9. Engelbert Humperdink - "Vanity for my Soul"
  10. Buck Owens - "I hope that Roy Clark rots"

(J.J. Simmons, "Bold Lancer" 1989)

The F.B.I.'s Latest Wanted Dead List

  1. Lt. McNeil (Alias "Spanky") - Wanted for impersonating an Officer
  2. Sgt. Smith - Wanted for impersonating a mature person
  3. Sgt. Degrood - Wanted for impersonating Dumbo
  4. Spc. Paski - Wanted for impersonating Sgt. Smith
  5. Spc. Dodge - Wanted for impregnating sheep

(J.J. Simmons, "Bold Lancer" 1989)

Five Reasons Why Not to Yodel in the Woods

  1. The Boars only like country
  2. It causes diarrhea in rodents
  3. It causes spontaneous itching in embarrassing places
  4. Burl Ives would sue
  5. It turns Bill Magan on

(J.J. Simmons, "Caravan Guard" 1989)

That's it for now - I'll post more in future notes.

Manually Localizing FPSE 2002 for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

02 February 2011 • by Bob • FrontPage

The FrontPage Server Extensions from Ready-to-Run Software, Inc. (RTR), are available and supported only in the English language. But that being said, the localized language files for FPSE 2002 are available for download from Microsoft, and if you're willing to do a little work, you can configure the FPSE 2002 administration pages for your website to be displayed in sixteen different languages. (The specific list of languages is provided later in this blog.)

Please note that this information is being presented "as-is" and is not officially supported by Microsoft or RTR.

Downloading and Installing the Localized FPSE 2002 Files

Download the self-extracting MSGS.EXE page that contains the FPSE 2002 language files from the following URL:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Products/frontpage/FPSE02LangFiles/msgs.exe

Extract the FPSE 2002 files by double-clicking the MSGS.EXE file and specifying an output folder.

By default, the installation package will install all of the localized files to the FPSE 2002 parent folder that is located at:

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\50

If you run the installation package on your server and accept the default path, then all of the languages will be available on your server.

However, if you only want to have one or more specific languages available, you would need to specify an alternate output folder for the extraction process. Under the output folder that you specified, you will see three folders: admisapi, bin, and isapi. Each of these folders will contain several subfolders, each of which contains the files for each of the localized languages. Each language that you want to have available on your server will need to be copied to their corresponding folders under the FPSE 2002 parent folder at:

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\50

You may copy all of the localized files to your FPSE directories, or you can select a single language by locating just the appropriate localized subfolders. For example, if you extracted the FPSE 2002 files to your C:\Temp folder and you wanted just the German language files, you would need to select the following folders:

C:\Temp\admisapi\1031

C:\Temp\bin\1031

C:\Temp\isapi\_vti_adm\help\1031

And you would copy those folders to the following paths:

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\50\admisapi\1031

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\50\bin\1031

%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\50\isapi\_vti_adm\help\1031

Specifying the Language for an FPSE 2002 Website

Open the service.cnf file for one of your websites in Windows Notepad; this file will be kept in the _vti_pvt folder for a website. For example, for the Default Web Site this file would be at:

C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\_vti_vt\service.cnf

Choose the language abbreviation for your desired language from the list below. For example, if you were using German your abbreviation would be "de-de."

Language Description LCID Abbreviation
Arabic - Saudi Arabia 1025 ar-sa
Chinese - Taiwan 1028 zh-tw
German - Germany 1031 de-de
English - United States 1033 en-us
French - France 1036 fr-fr
Hebrew 1037 he
Italian - Italy 1040 it-it
Japanese 1041 ja
Korean 1042 ko
Dutch - Netherlands 1043 nl-nl
Portuguese - Brazil 1046 pt-br
Swedish - Sweden 1053 sv-se
Thai 1054 th
Chinese - China 2052 zh-cn
Chinese - Hong Kong SAR 3076 zh-hk
Spanish – Spain (Modern) 3082 es-es
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0h88fahh.aspx for additional information about these languages and their related codes.

In the service.cnf file, locate the vti_defaultlanguage entry and change the value to the abbreviation for your desired language. If this value does not exist, you will need to add it. For example, if you were using the German language the syntax would be:

vti_defaultlanguage:SR|de-de

When you open the FPSE 2002 administration pages for your website, you should now see it in your localized language. (Note: You may need to refresh your browser's cache to see it correctly.)

That's all that there is to it. Once again, please note that the version of the FPSE 2002 from RTR is only supported in English; so if you are having any issues, you will need to change the value of the vti_defaultlanguage entry back to "en-us" before you contact RTR for support.

Note: This blog was originally posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/robert_mcmurray/

More 511th History: The Infamous AAFES Bag Incident

01 February 2011 • by Bob • Military

Here's a story that typifies why I liked MAJ Quinn, and it provides a great illustration of the old adage that good things come to those who wait. Sorry that it's a little longer than most of my other posts.

Part 1 - The Mail Run

In October of 1990, the 511th MI Company deployed to Mt. Meissner for the month. Duty was pretty typical: you'd spend a few days pulling rotations in the vault chasing bad guys or on guard duty, and then you'd have a day off. Time off at Mt. Meissner didn't offer many activities; your options were mostly limited to playing racquetball, watching stale videotapes of AFN programming in the lounge, reading a book, playing cards, or hiking. I think that by this time the no alcohol policy might have been put into effect, seeing as how someone from another unit had flipped their vehicle off the mountain in an alcohol-related incident, so the guys that drank were deprived of that as well.

I think that I was reading a book on one of my days off when SGT DeGrood dropped by the room and asked if I'd be willing to ride shotgun back to Fulda for a mail run. The military had a two-person requirement for military vehicles, so DeGrood simply needed someone to fill the vacant seat. Even though it was my day off, I didn't have anything better to do, so I agreed to go along for the ride. Bear in mind, I was married and I lived off-post, so we wouldn't be picking up my mail on this run - this was just for the single guys' mail. I just figured, "what the heck," so I got into uniform and we drove off in MI-59.

As we approached Fulda, DeGrood mentioned that he'd like to drop by the finance office on Downs Barracks to cash a check. That sounded fine to me - I was just along for the ride. After he cashed his check, we climbed back into MI-59 - and the darn thing wouldn't start. We popped the hood and we checked what we could, but we couldn't figure out what was wrong - this day was obviously not turning out as we had expected. We had few options, so we figured that we could walk down to the PX area and catch the shuttle back to Sickels Airfield where the 511th was located, ostensibly to get the wrecker to tow MI-59 to the Motor Pool (MOPO) for repairs. It took us a few minutes to walk down to the shuttle stop, and DeGrood sat down on the bench near the stop while I leaned against the sign for the shuttle.

I had been looking towards the PX, which was in a different direction than where DeGrood was sitting. When I turned around, I saw the Regimental Commander (RCO), COL Bacevich, approaching the shuttle stop. I snapped to attention and saluted as I rendered the greeting of the day, but DeGrood was looking at the ground, apparently lost in thought. The RCO came to a stop right in front of DeGrood, who suddenly noticed that someone was in front of him and he looked up. When he recognized the RCO, he immediately jumped to attention and saluted.

COL Bacevich asked what the @#$% was DeGrood doing there, and DeGrood started to explain that he was waiting for the shuttle to the airfield when the RCO cut him off. I don't remember what the RCO was yelling at him, but I attempted to interject and explain that our vehicle had died and we needed to get the wrecker from the airfield, and then the RCO started yelling at me. I don't recall his exact words, but he said some pretty awful things and made some completely baseless accusations about DeGrood and me wasting time when we should be on duty. Bear in mind - all of this was in front of a large crowd at the shuttle stop and pretty humiliating. Eventually the RCO ordered DeGrood and me to walk back to the airfield and have our CO (CPT Quinn) call him and explain our behavior. I have no idea what expression was on my face, but I looked at DeGrood, and he looked back at me with that half-grin that he always had - that same grin that he made right after he made a joke about your wife or something. We looked at each other for a second, then we both turned back to the RCO and said, "Yes, sir." Then we started the long walk back to the airfield.

Truth be told, the walk to Sickels airfield and the 511th was perhaps a mile at the most, but it was aggravating because there was a principle involved; I was pretty offended, as was DeGrood, but I think that after we got over the initial shock of what had just happened we started to make a few jokes about the situation.

We eventually arrived at the 511th, and as we were walking down the road that led from the airfield HQ to the 511th barracks, we could see that CPT Quinn was holding a staff meeting in the cafeteria. CPT Quinn caught sight of us, and since we were obviously on foot when we were supposed to be in Mt. Meissner, he walked out to greet us and said, "This has got to be a good story." We filled him in on the details about what had just happened, and we let him know that the RCO was expecting a call. CPT Quinn said not to worry about it, and that he would take care of everything.

So now DeGrood and I went back into vehicle recovery mode. We went to the MOPO to get some of the maintenance guys to take the wrecker over to Downs Barracks and pick up MI-59. After we towed it back to the MOPO, we worked with the maintenance guys until MI-59 was back up and running. By this point it was evening - and the one bright point of my day was that my wife dropped by to pick up our mail so I got to see her for a few minutes.

Once we had MI-59 ready to go and we had packed it with the mail for everyone at Mt. Meissner, I dropped by CPT Quinn's office to let him know that we were leaving. CPT Quinn said that he had called COL Bacevich and tried to explain what the situation was, but the RCO had cut him off and said something to the effect that "CPT Quinn's NCOs had AAFES shopping bags," so he was upset that we were shopping in the PX when we were supposed to be on duty. I explained to CPT Quinn that we didn't have any shopping bags - and CPT Quinn had met us as we were walking up the the barracks empty-handed, so he knew that we were telling the truth. CPT Quinn remarked that "in that case, the RCO is simply out to save face - and he'll lie about it if he has to."

Then CPT Quinn advised us to avoid the RCO if at all possible - that's when I had to drop a bombshell: the RCO was scheduled to visit Mt. Meissner within the next few days. CPT Quinn asked if we could stay out of sight, but I informed him that I had already been scheduled to deliver the operations briefing. CPT Quinn told me, "That had better be one damn good briefing," and then he told DeGrood to stay hidden as much as possible.

Part 2 - Payback

After a few days, DeGrood and I were still pretty upset. We had talked a couple of times about whether there was anything that we could do from a legal perspective - but unfortunately the Army is what it is. If someone abuses their power and position, more often than not they get away with it.

Eventually the day arrived for the RCO's visit to Mt. Meissner. At some point they brought the RCO, his staff & entourage, and CPT Quinn to the vault, where I proceeded to give them a detailed briefing on everything that we had been doing at Mt. Meissner. I followed my briefing by giving everyone a tour of the vault area and the antenna fields, then I took them on a brief tour of the main buildings and barracks areas, and I ended the tour in the cafeteria.

COL Bacevich stuck out his hand and thanked me for a great briefing and tour, then he turned to CPT Quinn and asked, "So this is where your NCOs claim that they're making their mail runs from?" I was momentarily speechless, which wasn't like me in those days - usually I spoke without thinking. But the statement caught me totally off guard. Apparently it had caught CPT Quinn off guard as well, and he asked, "What?" The RCO cracked a smile and said, "You know, those two NCOs that I caught goofing off on duty the other day." I could not believe this - not only had the RCO completely failed to notice who I was - but he was now recounting his warped version of the story to CPT Quinn right in front of me.

At this point - I have no idea what came over me other than a complete lack of respect for my sense of self-preservation and I said, "Sir, I was one of those two NCOs." COL Bacevich was momentarily surprised, but then he picked up his story again by saying, "So you're one of those two NCOs that I caught shamming on duty?" I was suddenly emboldened by his arrogance, and I managed to keep my cool as I said something like, "No, sir - I wasn't even on duty that day. I was only in uniform because I volunteered to ride shotgun so that the single guys could get their mail." I continued to tell the real story of how MI-59 had broken down next the the finance office, how we wanted to take the shuttle to the airfield to get the wrecker, how we were humiliated in front of our peers by him, and how wrongly he had treated the entire situation.

The more that I spoke, the lower COL Bacevich's eyes sank towards the ground, and the further his staff and entourage backed away from him. I don't recall how long I spoke or everything that I said - but I know that I chose my words carefully (for a change) and I did my best to say everything in a respectful manner, even though I was making it clear to everyone in attendance that the RCO had behaved like a complete ass.

Once I had finished, COL Bacevich stared at the ground in front of me for a little bit, then he looked up at his entourage for help - but no one would make eye contact with him. He resumed staring at the ground, shifted in his feet a little, then he mumbled, "That's not the way that I understood the story the other day."

And then, before I could do anything about it, my mouth opened on its own and the following words spilled out: "That's okay, sir - let bygones be bygones. I've gotta get back to work. Thanks!" And I left the cafeteria. I swear that my brain was not involved in that final process - which is probably pretty obvious to everyone who reads this. It wasn't one of my most eloquent speech endings - but once it was said there was no taking it back.

I went back to the vault, where I met up with DeGrood (who was now out of hiding) and everyone else. As I was telling everyone what had just happened, CPT Quinn entered the vault. He walked up to me and kind of cocked his head to one side - like a dog trying to figure something out. After a brief pause he asked, "'Let bygones be bygones?' What the hell does that mean?" I replied, "Honestly, sir - I have no idea what that meant." CPT Quinn laughed, then asked if I still wanted to pursue anything against COL Bacevich. I replied that my desire for retribution had been satisfied; the RCO had humiliated me without cause, and I had humiliated him with cause.

Part 3 - Epilogue

In another of those weird, full-circle occurrences - the story didn't end there. DeGrood and I had orders to PCS back to the states when we finished up at Mt. Meissner, but fate was about to play a dirty trick on us. The Army was gearing up for the first Gulf War, and I was days away from having my household goods picked up and shipped to the states when the Army issued orders to freeze everyone at their present duty station. I did not react well to this news - but CPT Quinn was kind enough to attempt to see if anything could be done. Unfortunately, nothing could be done; this was an Army-wide policy, and the only exception to policy was if your household goods had been picked up - and I fell short by six days.

DeGrood and I were both in the same boat - we were both days away from our PCS dates and our orders were rescinded. But it wasn't just hard on DeGrood and me - there were several people who were about to ETS that were frozen in station as well. SPC Meyer's father had a heart attack, and while his father was recuperating his poor mother was trying to work their family farm by herself. I watched Meyers descend from his normal, outgoing, optimistic, happy-go-lucky self to a person who was withdrawn and quiet. I can't imagine what those months were like for him.

The 11th ACR was not going to be deployed to the Gulf, so we went into a holding pattern while every other unit in Germany that was being deployed started gutting us for everything that we had. (Radios, vehicle parts, etc.) It was around this time that CPT Quinn allowed me to go home on leave for Christmas to help alleviate some of my misery. Since my wife and I hadn't been home in three years, I have always appreciated that gesture more than he ever knew.

Skipping ahead a few months, the first Gulf War had ended, and the military started letting people ETS and PCS again. Meyers was finally able to go home, and I was really happy for him. Eventually the day arrived when DeGrood and I got our new orders - I was going to PCS on something like July 4th of 1991, and DeGrood was leaving within a couple days of my departure.

That was when the Army played its next wildcard - the 11th ACR received orders to deploy to the Gulf for post-war activities, and regimental HQ announced that anyone with a PCS date later than July 1st would have their orders rescinded. I could not believe it - for the second time in my tour at Fulda I was within days of my PCS date and I wasn't going to be allowed to transition. DeGrood didn't make the cutoff date, either - so the two of us went to see MAJ Quinn (who had obviously been promoted from CPT). MAJ Quinn said that he would try to get an exception to policy for the two of us. True to his word, he got back to us shortly after our discussion with good news - he got all the paperwork that we needed; all that we had to do was get COL Bacevich to sign our papers.

(You can see the irony here, can't you?)

So early on a Friday morning DeGrood and I made our way over to regimental HQ in order to see COL Bacevich and request that he sign our paperwork and let us PCS back to the states. We both vividly remembered our history with the RCO, but we were hoping that he didn't remember. When we arrived at the RCO's office he was busy, so his secretary asked us to wait. After a while she said that if we wanted to leave the forms with her, she would make sure that the RCO signed them, and we could pick them up that afternoon. Neither DeGrood nor I wanted to actually see the RCO, so this sounded like a great plan. We left our paperwork and promised to return that afternoon.

The hours ticked by, and the two of us decided to drop by regimental HQ and see if the RCO had signed our paperwork. We arrived at the RCO's office, and only the RCO's secretary was there. (The absence of the RCO was great news.) The secretary said that the RCO had signed our paperwork, and she handed everything back to us. That's when we noticed that DeGrood's paperwork was signed - and mine wasn't. (I swear that I am not making this up.) The secretary remarked that our papers must have stuck together, so she asked if I would leave my paperwork in her office over the weekend and she would make sure that it was signed first thing Monday morning. I hesitantly agreed - but what else was I going to do?

As DeGrood and I left the RCO's office, DeGrood turned to me - and he flashed that same half-grin again. He said, "You know what happened, don't you? I stayed hidden at Mt. Meissner and you pulled that stunt of yours - he's never forgotten your name." Of course that thought was already running through my mind, so I can't say that I found DeGrood's joke all that funny at the time, but many years have gone by and it makes me smile now.

So here's the end of the story - I spent an agonizing weekend worrying what would happen, but I showed up at the RCO's office on Monday to see if he had signed my paperwork. Those who were assigned to the 511th at that time realize that I didn't go to the post-war Gulf with them, so the short answer is - yes, the RCO signed my paperwork.

To this day I do not know if the RCO had actually managed to forget that smart-mouthed NCO who embarrassed him, or if he simply decided to let bygones be bygones.

120 Things the 511th Learned During Hohenfels 1990

31 January 2011 • by Bob • Military

This 8th installment in my posts from the history of the 511th is the list of things that we learned at Hohenfels 1990, which was written by EW2. I have it in my notes that we nicknamed this field problem "Operation Lost Cause," which still seems appropriate.

Before I get to the list, I have to point one thing out - some of the comments in this list were really, really harsh with regard to their treatment of CPT Quinn. Actually, CPT Quinn was one of my favorite commanders - I mean, any commander that would let his subordinates tackle him and throw him in the mud pit in front of his family and peers has got to be pretty cool, right? I actually think that CPT Quinn (later MAJ Quinn) did more for the morale of the company than MAJ Bute ever did. For as much as everyone looked up to LTC Lesser as our best mission-focused commander, he sometimes didn't seem to care all that much about the morale of his subordinates; this was evidenced when MAJ Bute found a pile of awards which were buried in the company commander's desk that LTC Lesser had never handed out to soldiers before he left the 511th. (Some awards had to be mailed to people that had already ETS'd.) So I disagree with what was said about CPT Quinn, but I can try to put things in perspective - we had no history with CPT Quinn when we went on this deployment, and we had something of a bad first impression. But just because I do not agree with some of these statements doesn't mean that I should start cutting things out of the list - so for the sake of posterity I present the list with all of the comments that I would personally consider unnecessary. (Although I did cut out the profanity.)

Without further adieu, here's the list:

Things we learned at Hohenfels '90

  1. CPT Quinn is a ********, more follows.
  2. TRQ-30 antennas make great chock blocks. (Right 1LT Innocenti?)
  3. We must jump at midnight because we need the practice.
  4. Yes, the TRQ-32 does have a maximum load capacity.
  5. No matter how bad chow gets, it can always get worse.
  6. Jumping can be fun if you do it daily.
  7. T&A teams have short tempers.
  8. The sludge at the bottom of mess hall coffee really isn't toxic. (???)
  9. EW2 can run two weeks without air conditioning in the TRQ-32 while EW1 can't last two minutes.
  10. CPT Quinn is an *******, more follows.
  11. One should pull guard if there is nothing else to do.
  12. When all else fails, kick Myers out of the truck.
  13. The TRQ-30 is the ultimate intercept device. (Not!!!)
  14. Pork every night gets old pretty quickly.
  15. D.A. is incapable of reasonable thought early in the morning, or later for that matter.
  16. Morale gets pretty ugly with no sleep after four weeks in the field and two more to go.
  17. CPT Quinn is a moron, more follows.
  18. You don't "Out" Black-6, he "Out's" you.
  19. Cooks don't appreciate "101 things to do with pork" cookbooks.
  20. Cooks can actually read!!!
  21. Everyone wakes up in a wonderful mood after a night jump.
  22. The 533rd M.I. BN sucks as OPFOR support.
  23. It's better to be called an ******* than a D.A.T.
  24. CPT Quinn should be a D.A.T., more follows.
  25. It's fun to chase boars through the woods wearing Night Vision Goggles.
  26. The TRQ-32 can be quite an effective jammer. (Not!!!)
  27. The better that we seem to be doing, the more we get f***** with.
  28. SGT Degrood sets up a mean camo net. (For a cheeser anyway...)
  29. Blanco can't I.C.D.; "Please go to MOPP4..."
  30. Blanco will eat anything.
  31. CPT Quinn is a devious *******, more follows.
  32. Breakfast is always more enjoyable when you eat it at lunch.
  33. Frosted mini-wheats are worth killing for.
  34. We work better when the C.O. is in Fulda.
  35. CPT Quinn has twisted, God-image delusions of himself, more follows.
  36. The 533rd can play both OPFOR and OCE's, because that's fair.
  37. Always build a hooch in case it rains.
  38. 24 hour OP's are essential in an eight-hour war.
  39. Boots look better without polish. (Just ask D.A.)
  40. Miles gear can still be entertaining without blanks. (Silent but deadly.)
  41. Everbody wants to be a jammer.
  42. M-8 alarms work better without batteries.
  43. Duerkson can I.C.D. while sleeping 500 yards from a jammer.
  44. Whitfield can never get enough sleep.
  45. J.J. should come to the field, even if he is clearing.
  46. It's amazing how much handcopying English isn't like handcopying Russian.
  47. It always pays to have a radio mechanic and your armorer look at your generator.
  48. MOPP2 is much more fashionable than MOPP1. (Booties are cute.)
  49. Too bad cigars don't keep away officer pests like they do insects.
  50. The new style in EW2 sleepware is the Hoff Stealth Tent.
  51. Landline for field phones only serves as trip wires.
  52. Chow is appreciated more if it's been held a few hours, even more if it's cooked.
  53. CPT Quinn is a ******-******** ***-****** from a festering ***-****, (and Duerkson should know!), more follows.
  54. We all need more driver's training when Service's brakes go out.
  55. There is a difference between the hood and brake release.
  56. You can learn a lot from Taboo Freqs.
  57. Comm's work better with a fill in the Vinson.
  58. You can do a lot of damage with an M-60 and no miles equipment.
  59. Our officers would get us killed if this were real combat.
  60. If you can lie, you can I.C.D.
  61. BCG's look better on Duerkson than real glasses would.
  62. D.A. is secretly a Leprosy carrier.
  63. 98C's should always man Trojan when 98G's go to the field.
  64. Alex is the world's biggest shammer, McGee takes a close second.
  65. Never offer D.A. a dip, he'll take the whole can.
  66. It pays to buy quart-sized coffee mugs.
  67. CPT Quinn is a putz, more follows.
  68. The only thing worth buying at the shoppette is the Blonde.
  69. (This is a number not seen at Hohenfels.)
  70. The TRQ-32's DF antennas look much better with chem-lites dangling from them.
  71. Officers don't like lists of things we've learned.
  72. Fred can make mistakes, too.
  73. Sleep deprivation is good for the soul.
  74. You can go for days without shaving, and even then only an officer will notice.
  75. You can get a TRQ-32 level anywhere if you have enough rocks.
  76. If McCollum died, EW1's TRQ-32 squad would be lost forever.
  77. We don't need a TCAE now that we have CPT Quinn.
  78. We all love CPT Quinn's radio procedures, more follows.
  79. It's amazing how much you can not give a s*** about.
  80. You don't need to start the radio watch vehicle all that often.
  81. We need more camo nets. (Not!!!)
  82. You're in the war even if you're not in the box.
  83. Married guys don't really want to see their wives.
  84. Everyone has to stay in the field, but CPT Quinn gets to go home anyway.
  85. Uncle Martin is a coffee-waster.
  86. 1LT Innocenti really has no idea what the hell is going on.
  87. Listening to OCE nets gives you an edge on the battle.
  88. Miles gear gets comfortable the more that you wear it. (Not!!!)
  89. You can handcopy on the move even if you can't drink coffee.
  90. It's fun to be the 1LT's driver. (Not!!!)
  91. OCE's are friendly people.
  92. We're all having a great time.
  93. The RCO can live to eat his words. ("EW support sucks in Hohenfels...")
  94. You can still drive vehicles with Class III leaks and broken windshields.
  95. "4-LO" is a wonderful gear.
  96. Life is not complete without shaving.
  97. We just came here to feed the bugs.
  98. Life was easier with Babbs.
  99. EW2 is invisible to armed OPFOR task forces.
  100. There is no such thing as down time.
  101. If you don't want to lose at Mumbly-Peg, play with Jeff Morris.
  102. Hedgehogs sound deceptively large at night.
  103. Night Vision Goggles and flashlights don't mix.
  104. 1LT Innocenti does do a good impression of a Mexican.
  105. 1LT Innocenti and Flores do know where the bad parts of Houston are. (Wonder why?)
  106. OPFOR sucks.
  107. Reconning can be fun.
  108. Rocks don't make good baseballs, but "out-of-bounds" markers make great bats.
  109. After five weeks with Whitfield you can still hate Rap Music.
  110. You can read a lot of books when you're bored to tears.
  111. When all else fails, scream at the OCE's.
  112. Fred is a self-proclaimed geek.
  113. Myers knows lots of useless facts.
  114. It helps to count the number of days you have left in Fulda.
  115. 1LT Innocenti has no life.
  116. OPFOR has no sense of humor.
  117. Whitfield will take a Humvee where no man has gone before.
  118. We make life harder on ourselves by not whining as hard as EW1.
  119. We all have bad attitudes.
  120. If you are winning at Hohenfels, you must be cheating.

One brief explanation for point #12 - there was some steep hill in Hohenfels that EW1 couldn't get their TRQ-32 to climb, no matter who was behind the wheel. Then a few days later EW2 tried to take the hill; several people from EW2 made the attempt with our TRQ-32, but to no avail. That is - until I got behind the wheel, and I ordered Steve "Felix" Myers to get out of the truck. In hindsight, I completely realize that it was just as much luck as skill that enabled me to get that motorized mammoth up the mountain - but that didn't stop me from having the coolest bragging rights for the next few weeks. (FWIW - D.A. Morris was there, and he also failed to get the TRQ-32 up the hill despite several attempts, so he can vouch for my story - just in case you have reason to doubt my sincerity. ;-] )

Blog Navigation

You are on page 59 of 71 pages.

1 ... 57 58 59 60 61 62 ... 71